How can employers ensure employees are thriving, not just surviving?

A global health crisis is upon us, driven by the collision of a workforce that feels depleted and a work pace that feels unrelenting. Add to this poor work design and unsupportive work cultures, and it’s no wonder that workers are taking it upon themselves to self-diagnose their mental health issues . As a result, leaves of absence are rising, and there is a real threat to longer-term productivity and workers’ ability to build near-term health and wealth resilience.?

Despite more employees feeling they are thriving at work this year, the uplift is occurring at a cost. Our 2024 Global Talent Trends Study points to employee burnout being higher than ever, with over eight in 10 (82%) feeling at risk. Meanwhile, employers are worried about how the young people of the Covid Generation will cope with typical work stressors and setbacks.??

According to King’s College London , the rate of students self-reporting mental health difficulties almost tripled between 2016-17 and 2022-23. This is the workforce entering our workplaces in the near future. The question is: Are employers ready for them???

Leaving these underlying mental health issues unaddressed means a resilient future workforce is increasingly out of reach. It’s no surprise that some companies are appointing Heads of Well-being to be on the front foot.??

The state of workplace well-being??

In theory, today’s employees are better placed to handle work strains than those who lost out during Covid in their formative years. People who have spent time in the office building relationships know the rules of the game; they’ve paid into the social bank. Yet we all also know people who love their job and are thoroughly exhausted with it. You might even be one of them. And there are many other signals suggesting that work may now need to come with a health warning:?

• Mental ill health is now the most common cause of work-limiting conditions among those aged 44 years and younger in the UK.?

• Prevalent mental conditions such as depression and anxiety cost the global economy US$ 1 trillion each year , driven predominately by lost productivity.??

• A fifth of working-age people (8 million+) in the UK have a long-term health condition restricting their ability to work . This figure rose from 15% to 20% between 2013 and 2023 for people aged 16-64.?

• The global medical trend rate (the YoY cost increase for claims on a per-person basis made under a medical scheme)* is forecasted at 11.6% against an inflationary backdrop of 4.2% this year, according to the MercerMarsh Benefits Health Trends report .??

Despite these trends, when executives were asked which human capital insights would be the most useful for managing their business , predicting burnout risk was not in the top 10, falling from #2 in 2022 to #12 out of 20 this year. While some businesses have made progress on bringing these insights into managers’ purview, others have de-prioritized mental health due to shifting priorities and/or put them into the ‘too hard’ bucket given lackluster progress.??

Addressing well-being challenges head-on?

To change this trajectory, systemic transformation is needed at a societal, cultural and corporate level. Businesses will need to ensure the following become work staples:?

• Individuals make better health choices in the flow of work (with employers nudging them at the time most relevant to them).?

• Worker alignment and investment into the purpose of work (to counterbalance stress).??

• Employees have adequate control over their work and workload.??

Leading firms are moving towards predictive analysis on what drives workplace outcomes such as life satisfaction, flourishing, and hope, as well as more clinical aspects of well-being such as anxiety, stress, burnout and depression. Others are:?

• Using workforce analytics such as engagement data, aggregated AI coaching data and even output from wearables like smartwatches to provide feedback on cultural issues and stressors.??

• Evaluating different worker outcomes from various healthcare providers to advise on the best choice for different illnesses/populations.?

• Publicly setting goals to hold themselves accountable for progress as part of their Good Work Commitments under the World Economic Forum initiative: Novo Nordics has committed to reducing stress-related illnesses to under 10%. ?

Five recommendations for a holistic approach to workplace well-being?

1. Cultivate an adaptable and flexible culture with stability at its core – especially for new workers, young workers or those new to your work environment. We are at our best when we master the basics of a job and have time to build a solid social network.? ?
2. Ensure leadership mindsets/skillsets embed the need for cultivating psychological safety at work. This should encompass discussing mental health issues, taking time off to care for ourselves or loved ones, and having the confidence to say ‘no’ to high workloads.? ?
3. Design work with well-being in mind by evaluating what work needs to be done in the future, which tasks might be more fruitfully delivered by machines and reconfiguring jobs to make them more engaging and less exhausting by design. Keeping people employable over the longer term is a shared imperative for workers and companies.? ?
4. Support resilience (physical and mental) and emotional agility by ensuring workers are a good fit for the role. Help them to get behind the purpose of the team or company and role model healthy work habits. Concurrently, be honest about trade-offs and intentionally buddy up workers to encourage self-reflection and reprioritization.? ?
5. Rethink your company's role in wealth creation by building not only labor wealth, but capital wealth. This may involve extending share schemes down the business hierarchy, amplifying welfare safety nets and reassessing enterprise resource planning services. AI can help too by bringing financial choices to the fore.?

In the face of aging populations, shrinking workforce participation and declines in health and well-being, making progress on mental health must be a combined effort across businesses and governments, so every generation is inspired by their employment choices today and able to thrive in the long term.?

Footnote:?

*Medical Trend = Medical inflation (increase in cost for services/ supplies; can be driven by currency fluctuations with respect to imported supplies) + Changes in treatment mix (potentially more expensive options now being administered) + Utilization changes (more/less of certain age groups leveraging health services) + Regulatory changes.?